


Of Orange Chocolate and Roses

by cairistiona13



Category: EXO (Band), Pentagon (Band), SM the Ballad
Genre: Alpha/Alpha, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bottom Chanyeol, Dreams, Eventual Smut, Fantasy, Fluff and Smut, Height Differences, M/M, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Chanyeol, Omega Verse, Scenting, Scents & Smells, Self-Lubrication, Smut, Spooning, Spoons, Threesome, Threesome - M/M/M, Top Jino, Top!Jino, bottom!chanyeol, omega!chanyeol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 03:55:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6314335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cairistiona13/pseuds/cairistiona13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As an omega, Chanyeol had dreamt and hoped for a tall alpha to claim him. He wasn’t expecting a pintsized, <i>adorable</i> alpha.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Orange Chocolate and Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Written for...a fest I never want to remember, for softboys, who I hope liked this! <3 Jinho, my sweet little baby. Jinho. (He's debuting he's debuting HE'S DEBUTING. Soon I won't need to tag everything with SM The Ballad! He'll have a PROPER GROUP NAME!!!)  
> Also, thank you to my saviour and beta Yiyi for being amazing.

Ever since he was old enough to understand the implications, Park Chanyeol has had dreams about his future mate.

Chanyeol is an omega. Male omegas are particularly rare; less than five per cent of omegas are males, so they’re often looked after and protected. Chanyeol is no exception; since he was born and his mothers realised what a gift they’d been given, he’s always been brought up shielded, loved, and told that his mate will look after him, too.

Chanyeol’s dreams are always of a tall, solidly built alpha; bigger than Chanyeol. He’s big enough to wrap around Chanyeol and protect him. Chanyeol never sees facial features, but he feels comfortable around him, like he is made for Chanyeol. He’s Chanyeol’s _mate_.

He’s always gravitated to tall alphas. When he was younger and smaller than he is now, he would hang out with Cha Hakyeon and Jung Taekwoon, who both did their best to look after him in different ways. Even now that he’s older (and taller than both of them), they still watch out for him; make sure that he’s okay, and sometimes help him in other ways, when he needs it. Chanyeol isn’t weak by any stretch of the imagination, but male omegas, although protected, also have a concurrent history of being picked and preyed on by larger alphas, so Chanyeol appreciates it; just in case.

\---

Hakyeon and Taekwoon share a house not far from Chanyeol’s family home, so Chanyeol is a regular visitor; every Thursday they have dinner together.

Chanyeol knows that the alphas have an alpha meeting every Wednesday from seven until nine pm—a chance to meet other alphas and bond together over shared experiences—, so he doesn’t usually go over then: the first time he’d gone over after a meeting, when he was fourteen, the overwhelming scent of multiple alphas on their clothing had almost caused him to pass out. The scent of alphas doesn’t cause the same reaction any more, but Chanyeol knows better than to tempt fate.

Except that it’s half past nine on a Wednesday night, he’s locked himself out, his parents aren’t home and there’s nothing else to do.

Chanyeol steels himself outside their front door and rings the doorbell.

Hakyeon opens the door a few moments later, shirt looser around his neck than Chanyeol is used to most of the month. He appears to be in the middle of a joke as he’s grinning at Chanyeol.

“Hi! I wasn’t expecting you,” Hakyeon says.

Chanyeol doesn’t hear any more of what he says, because suddenly there is this most _amazing_ smell. Chanyeol’s never smelt anything like it before.

Chanyeol doesn’t quite have the words to describe it. There are spices, fruit, the odd scent of musk and sweat. The sweat should be disgusting, like all sweat belonging to someone else is, but smelling someone else’s _essence_ like this is somehow _not_.

He thinks there might be a hint of orange, the leftover scent of previously eaten chocolate, maybe some classy aftershave thrown in.

“What is that _smell_?” he interrupts Hakyeon, without even realising, to ask. “It’s just…I can’t…what _is_ that _smell_?”

Hakyeon shrugs. “I don’t know, but please don’t get the front doorstep wet. It’s distracting.”

“I’m not!” Chanyeol protests absently, lifting his nose up to smell it better. He finds himself with his nose in Hakyeon’s shirt a few minutes later, sniffing him like a dog.

“Go and see Woon,” Hakyeon says, shoving Chanyeol off him and into the house.

Taekwoon may not seem like the most affectionate of people, and that’s because he isn’t— _especially_ not with Hakyeon, who regularly tries to cuddle him (it’s a little like trying to cuddle a wriggling kitten who isn’t happy). But he has a soft spot for Chanyeol, who he lets get away with a lot more than most people.

Chanyeol kicks his shoes off in the doorway and follows the wonderful smell through into the sitting room, which is a tiny room with nothing but a low couch in front of a coffee table and television. Taekwoon is watching something—probably football—and doesn’t really react when Chanyeol enters, save for the hand he raises in a half-wave. After a few beats, he pats the couch next to him and Chanyeol scurries across, obediently.

Taekwoon is well-known for saving his words for when they’re truly important, but Chanyeol likes it, especially when Taekwoon lets him curl up against him like this; like a small child, or a kitten, and just listen to the beating of his heart. There are the noises of goals in the background, and the fans’ cheering, but Chanyeol just breathes in the scent of the unknown alpha, occasionally rubbing his nose against Taekwoon’s neck to try to get more of the scent, and eventually the omega drifts off to Taekwoon’s steady breathing and the mix of his scent mixed with that of the other alpha.

The sleep he has, curled up there next to Taekwoon, is one of the best he’s ever had. The dream he has isn’t of that same alpha. Instead, there’s just a comforting presence, wrapping him up.

The stranger—no, not a stranger, not at all—smells of orange chocolate and eternal _calm_.

When Chanyeol wakes up, he has a smile on his face and Hakyeon coos at how happy he is. He pinches Chanyeol’s cheek, even though he knows Chanyeol usually hates it—even though he likes being protected, Chanyeol isn’t a _baby_.

“You haven’t smiled like that in a while,” Hakyeon says, fondly, and Chanyeol wonders.

\---

Chanyeol doesn’t smell it again for a while; the intoxicating alpha scent. It takes so long that even though he knows exactly what it smells like, and could identify it instantly, he starts wondering if he hallucinated it. If it was a memory he created to make up for how _lonely_ he is. If he’d invented the smell of an alpha, a smell he could stand. Maybe there had actually been nothing that day; nothing but the desire for a good sleep.

But then, walking up to his friends’ house on Thursday night for dinner, he smells it again. That amazing, almost _inebriating_ scent.

And the scent seems to belong to someone, this time—it’s not just a phantom scent on the older two’s clothing. A real someone; the scent strong enough to make Chanyeol more alert, like downing a cup of espresso.

Chanyeol follows his nose through the house, to the kitchen, where Taekwoon is staring down at a pot that is bubbling away nicely. The scent of the stew, however amazing to his senses, doesn’t detract from that same scent that Chanyeol had smelt before. It was definitely no figment of his imagination.

There is also a stranger in the room.

The stranger is a boy who looks a little younger than Chanyeol, but Chanyeol’s never been any good with ages. He’s much shorter than the three of them, and a little broader, stockier. He has short hair, and kind, laughing eyes, and the _smell_ makes Chanyeol go weak at the knees. It’s only the fact that the other boy is a stranger that stops him from heading over there and sniffing him, to see if it’s _his_ smell.

He doesn’t understand it at _all_.

“Hi!” the boy says, noticing Chanyeol. “So, you’re Hakyeon-hyung’s omega?”

“He’s not my omega,” Hakyeon laughs, following Chanyeol into the room, bumping hips with the younger. “If anything, he’s Woon’s omega.”

Taekwoon just lifts his head up to look at them as he sighs.

“I’m Chanyeol,” Chanyeol says, trying not to breathe in any more of the intoxicating scent, but at the same time trying to inhale more air. He feels conflicted.

“Nice to meet you, Chanyeol-ssi, I’m Jinho,” the boy—Jinho—says.

They sit down at the dinner table and begin to chat about anything and everything as the stew in the pot is deemed ready to eat. It turns out that Jinho is the same age as Chanyeol, and it becomes slightly easier to talk to him.

It’s within the topic of omega and alpha differences when Jinho lets slip that he’s never met a male omega before, and that’s why he’d been eager to meet Chanyeol.

“It’s nice to finally put a face to the name, anyway,” he says. “The other two are always talking about you.”

Chanyeol smiles, even as Hakyeon protests the informal language. It’s nice to know that his friends are as fond of him as he is of them.

Throughout their meal, there’s something odd about the way Chanyeol feels—unusual, unsettled, a prickle under his skin. He knows that the feeling is somewhat familiar but it’s odd enough that he can’t place it.

They’re coming to the end of their meal, and Jinho is getting slightly weirder in his mannerisms, when Hakyeon’s head jerks upright. “Chanyeol,” he says slowly, a vast contrast with the speed of his movements, “when is your heat due?”

“Uh,” Chanyeol says. “Why?”

“Oh!” Jinho exclaims. “So _that’s_ what I can smell.”

“I—we,” Hakyeon makes a broad sweeping gesture at the three alphas, “—can smell heat.” He says it like that should be all that Chanyeol needs, but even then it takes him a few moments for the inference to pass through. It’s not a statement of mere _ability_.

It also might explain why he’s feeling so weird.

“Oh....it wasn’t due for another week,” Chanyeol says. “I think? But—yeah—” Now he recognises it for what it is, he can feel the wetness gathering. He isn’t _too_ wet yet, but he’ll get there.

“Sorry to have to cut our evening short, Jinho,” Hakyeon says, everyone standing up except Chanyeol, who tries to sink further into his chair, knuckles white as he grips the edge of his seat. He feels embarrassed that his body decided to just _fuck up_ , even though the reaction is perfectly fine and there isn’t anything to be ashamed of. It’s perfectly normal for omegas to be affected in this way by alphas that they just met—after all, he’s already said that was why he avoids the alphas after their alpha meeting, right?

“I understand,” Jinho says. “It was nice to meet you, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol manages to flash a shaky smile, squeezing his thighs together tighter. Right now he hates his body so much. He hopes that Jinho doesn’t have the impression that he’s so desperate for an alpha that he just gets wet and opens his legs for any alpha on their first meeting.

“I’m sure the feeling’s mutual,” Hakyeon says hastily to Jinho, before Chanyeol unconsciously pumps out too many pheromones, and leads the alpha out of the kitchen. The room, the _sensation_ , feels slightly less overpowering, but it won’t help Chanyeol. There’s only two ways to stop heat: let it run its course, or get help. Getting help has always been the more preferable option.

“Come on. We’ll take care of you.” Taekwoon says, wrapping an arm around Chanyeol and helping him to his feet, leading Chanyeol through to the bedroom and settling him down on the bed.

Chanyeol absently hears the front door shut, and a moment later Hakyeon appears at the door.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

Chanyeol nods. “Just—please,” he says. He’s already palming the tent at the front of his trousers unconsciously, face feeling rather warm.

Hakyeon nods, and crosses the room towards him. Taekwoon gives Chanyeol’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze and leans over to retrieve a box from under the bed.

Chanyeol does not mention it to either of the alphas but it does not feel as great as it usually does, even though his heat dissipates all the same. He feels a guilty tug in his chest when he catches a whiff of orange chocolate on Hakyeon’s shirt.

Chanyeol does not fully comprehend what he’s feeling.

\---

Sometimes, Chanyeol is just out walking and he smells orange chocolate, and he finds himself smiling and _happy_. He’s even bought some of the chocolate oranges he sees about the place, just to get a taste, a whiff of that amazing scent. It’s never as good or as comforting as that smell on a person is. Chanyeol isn’t entirely sure why—but at the same time, he thinks that it might be the _person_ who is important.

He still isn’t sure if it’s Jinho’s smell. And he’s not sure if that should mean something to him or not.

\---

There are no slip-ups again for a while, his heat coming when it should. Chanyeol doesn’t see Jinho again, either, although apparently the alpha asks after him. 

“Would you like it if we invite Jinho over for dinner?” Hakyeon asks carefully, a while later. “I think he liked meeting you. It’d be nice for the both of you to be a bit closer.”

“Sure,” Chanyeol says. He doesn’t really have an opinion one way or another; the guy seemed nice, but they didn’t have much time to talk. Quietly, in his heart, Chanyeol wants know more about Jinho.

Thursday dinner comes quickly. This time, Chanyeol’s there before Jinho. One moment, there’s nothing. The next—that strange smell again, just as wonderful as Chanyeol remembers it. His body buzzes with excitement in response to the scent. 

Chanyeol isn’t stupid. He thinks it probably _has_ to be Jinho’s smell. He just doesn’t understand why it’s causing such a reaction in him.

Jinho is just as nice as he remembers. The first thing he does is check up on Chanyeol.

“How are you?” he asks, carefully.

“I’m fine,” Chanyeol assures him.

“I’m sorry for last time.” Jinho pauses, and then adds, “I was really excited to meet a male omega.” The smile that blooms across Jinho’s face makes Chanyeol’s stomach lurch in a good way. He decides, in that moment, that he wants to take care of himself so that Jinho does not have to worry. He feels horrible for upsetting Jinho.

Chanyeol waves it off as a friendly feeling. 

Jinho is part of a drama club, and they’re preparing for a play. “We’re doing Hamlet,” he says. “Though my ambition is to do a musical. I think I’m too short to be lead, but it’d be nice to have a good role.”

“You’re not that short,” Chanyeol says, even though everyone is short compared to him, Jinho included. Short alphas are uncommon, just like a large omega like him is also unusual. Together, the two of them bend stereotypes. Chanyeol smiles at the mental image.

Jinho just smiles at him, eyes curved into crescents. “You should come!” he says. “I mean,” he hastens, after a pause, “if you want to, of course.” Chanyeol can’t help noticing how Jinho hesitates, biting his bottom lip and frowning slightly. It’s kind of _really_ cute.

“Sure,” Chanyeol agrees, keeping his eyes on Jinho’s handsome face to see a wide, genuine smile spread across it. Jinho has an attractive smile and Chanyeol finds that he loves seeing Jinho smile like that. “It’d be nice to go to something, we can’t keep having dinner just to meet.”

Jinho laughs at that, nodding furiously. “That’s true! I’ll get you the best seats, I promise.” 

Out of the corner of his eyes, Chanyeol can see Hakyeon beaming at him, so he deliberately avoids looking at him. Though, to be honest, Jinho is no better—he looks delighted and excited (Chanyeol can almost feel the positive energy radiating from him) at the prospect of Chanyeol coming to see him. Chanyeol doesn’t understand why.

Chanyeol had looked at his calendar before he came out to the meal, just to double-check when his next heat is. It should be in three days, so Chanyeol had figured he would be fine.

Usually he would be fine, the heat creeping so slowly into his system that he would have ample time to prepare for the day it hits; before it becomes unbearable. 

However, right now, he is anything but fine. 

He’s putting their plates in the sink after their meal when he recognises the slickness beginning to gather, starting to run into the creases of his underpants. He presses the heels of his palms against his eyes.

“This can’t be happening again,” he complains.

Taekwoon stops in the doorway, his hands full of chopsticks. He raises an eyebrow at Chanyeol. “Again?” he asks, his voice full of disbelief.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says. “There’s something wrong with me. I’m off schedule again—it’s too _quick_ , too _sudden_. I don’t understand.”

Taekwoon gives him a very, _very_ strange look. Chanyeol tries to shrink into himself, embarrassed despite knowing that Taekwoon has seen worse. 

“I’ll handle it from here. You go prepare,” Taekwoon says quietly, hands gently against Chanyeol’s waist. “I’ll tell Hakyeon too.” 

\---

For the first time since he was small, Chanyeol’s dreams change.

He still doesn’t see a face, but the body pressing him into the bed is not that of the large, solid alpha from before. Instead, this alpha is, although still stocky and solid, probably shorter than Chanyeol is. It doesn’t really make much of a difference.

Chanyeol feels as safe as ever with this new alpha in his dream.

And there’s always the faintest hint of orange chocolate in the dream and in the air when he wakes up. He can’t explain it, but it makes him happy and comforted. It gets to the point that the smell just makes him happy, butterflies fluttering in his lower stomach. It’s enough to make him wonder if he’s sick, but he’s too _happy_ for that to be the case.

“I don’t understand,” he says, curled up on Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s couch, hugging all the throw pillows to his chest. “Why have my dreams changed? Has my _mate_ changed? Who was it before?”

“Woon has a theory,” Hakyeon says. He’s on Taekwoon’s other side from Chanyeol, arm against the back of the chair, and, by extension, around Taekwoon. Taekwoon hasn’t pushed him off yet, which is surprising to Chanyeol. Maybe he’s in a particularly good mood. “But he needs to wait first, for something to happen. It’ll happen in due course, I’m sure.”

Taekwoon merely nods.

“Okay,” Chanyeol says. “But please tell me once you’ve worked it out.”

They promise to tell him the moment they know something concrete, and they all leave it at that.

\---

Chanyeol _smells_ him before he opens his house door a week later to find Jinho standing there, shifting from one foot to another.

“Um, hi,” Jinho says. “The Hyungs sent me over to give you this?”

He has something in his hands, but Chanyeol can’t see it, because he’s already distracted by the _smell_. Because it’s there and it’s stronger than before, and it _must_ be Jinho.

Chanyeol kind of just wants to rub himself all over him, to get the scent on himself, so he can remember it for later. The smile grows on his face, as it _always_ does around the overpowering, wonderful scent of orange chocolate.

He goes a little weak at the knees, not _entirely_ without plan. Jinho steps forward, into the house, to grab him and keep him steady, and Chanyeol takes a deep breath.

Jinho smells of joy and wonder and Chanyeol’s lower stomach tingles.

“Chanyeol?” Jinho begins. His voice sounds like it’s coming from down a tunnel. “Are you okay?”

“I like your scent,” Chanyeol finds himself saying, unable to lift his head away from Jinho’s throat. He doesn’t remember putting his nose there, but he has. It’s probably slightly inappropriate to do this to someone he barely knows, but he can’t help it. He can’t stop himself.

But Jinho _freezes_. “Oh,” he says. “I—”

At Jinho’s tone, Chanyeol forces himself to move away from Jinho so he can see his face. Jinho looks _scared_ , his eyes wide open and his body trembling.

“I didn’t—it didn’t—I—” Jinho stammers, none of the words forming a sentence that Chanyeol can comprehend. He doesn’t understand what’s happening. He panics because he can smell _fear_ on Jinho. 

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol says softly, voice shaky. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No!” Jinho says, and he lifts a hand, barely grazing Chanyeol’s shoulder before he rips it away again as if he’s been burnt. “It’s not you.” He shakes his head. “I have to go—I have to _think_ about this.” And then he’s pulling away, _running_ away from Chanyeol.

Chanyeol realises, the moment that Jinho is gone, that he’s _hard_.

He’s not in heat, though, so he heads to his room, locks the door, and gets out his lube. He wraps a slick hand around his cock, slowly, teasing himself.

In his mind’s eye, Jinho crosses the room towards him, kneels at the edge of his bed, and takes his cock into his mouth.

Chanyeol’s eyes spring wide open at this realisation, his hand moving faster as imaginary-Jinho begins to bob his head. Chanyeol’s forefinger moves over the tip of his cock the way that Jinho’s tongue moves.

Chanyeol comes with Jinho’s name on his lips.

Closing his eyes and feeling his arse throb with the aftermath of his orgasm, it is _too_ easy to put Jinho’s face on that of the alpha in his dreams, too easy to feel the scent all around him.

Chanyeol thinks he might be _scared_.

\---

“Umma,” Chanyeol asks, later that night, when he’s cleaned himself up, unfortunately washing the _scent_ from his body. He would prefer to keep it on his skin, knowing that it will help him sleep better, but there is _human decency_ to consider. “What do…what do alpha scents mean?”

She looks up at him in surprise. “All of us have scents, Chanyeol,” she says. “But most people will just smell of normal things to you; sweat, perfume, their natural musk. But there will be one person who will smell stronger to each of us, who will have a _different_ scent. One person whose smell is intoxicating and yet also invigorating. One person whose smell we can’t live without. For example, Mama smells like lemon and coconut cake to me and I will miss that scent when she is away. However, you won’t. You won’t even have noticed she smells like that.”

Chanyeol swallows hard, as he _gets it_ , a second before she says it out loud.

“That person with the special smell is our mate.”

Chanyeol’s legs give way once again, dropping him down onto the sofa. “Oh my God,” he breathes, dropping his head into his hands. Suddenly, he understands why Jinho was so scared, why he ran away. In that moment, he’s just as terrified.

Mating is a _huge_ thing, especially when male omegas are concerned, as they are so rare. It’s like marriage—only it’s an unbreakable bond. Two mates will never break up or divorce. They will be together for the rest of their lives, until they die.

Chanyeol has only met Jinho a few times, but he supposes that he’s lucky. He knows Jinho a little; they have mutual interests and friends. There are people far unluckier than he, who mate the first time they see the other person. They will have nothing to start from—no common ground. They will have to start their relationship from scratch, even though they’re essentially already married.

Not everyone mates. Most omegas mate. Many alphas and betas can also mate. But there is a portion of the population who aren’t capable of mating, or who just never do mate. They either don’t have the ability to, or their mate has already died or hasn’t been born yet. These people can fall in love and marry just like anyone else, but they won’t have that lifelong connection with their partner.

Not like Chanyeol and Jinho.

“Have you found your mate?” Chanyeol’s Umma asks carefully, and Chanyeol nods.

“Yeah,” he says. “I scared him by telling him I liked his scent and he ran away.”

She smiles gently. “Don’t worry,” she says. “You’re connected. He won’t stay away for long. You will find him soon enough, and then you will be able to be together.”

“I hope so,” Chanyeol breathes. Suddenly, the idea of not being able to live without that scent, now he knows it, fills him with dread. He couldn’t bear to be away from it, from _Jinho_ , even if all the scent does is send him into heat.

He thinks that after they bond, that affect might wane some, anyway. Or at least he _hopes_ that.

He could ask his Umma but he feels awkward about it—Umma is a beta and Mama is an alpha, so neither of them would know.

He’s sure he’ll find out soon enough, anyway.

\---

Chanyeol waits a few days, to think about it. This future, this _bond_ of theirs. But ultimately he knows what he needs to do.

“Do you have Jinho’s address?” he asks, when Taekwoon opens his front door.

There’s a smile on Taekwoon’s face, quite unlike any Chanyeol has ever seen before. Taekwoon usually smiles with closed lips, his eyes crinkled and cheeks puffed out, but this is toothy, his eyes twinkling in delight. “Yes!” Taekwoon says, and there is actual _excitement_ in his voice.

He hurries away, leaving Chanyeol standing, awkwardly, on the front doorstep, until he comes back with a piece of paper, scribbled Hangul covering it.

“Here,” he says, giving Chanyeol the paper. “Good luck.”

Chanyeol just looks at him, bemused. “Um. Thanks?” he offers, before Taekwoon shuts the door in his face.

\---

Jinho doesn’t live too far away—twenty minutes away by bus.

Chanyeol slows down as he nears Jinho’s door. What if he’s not in? What if he doesn’t want to see Chanyeol? What if he’s not _ready_?

Chanyeol thinks that he’ll cope with whatever happens. He’ll have to.

He rings the doorbell and waits.

It’s a long, long minute before Jinho opens the door.

He’s clearly not dressed to go out; a black hooded sweatshirt and loose, baggy grey sweatpants, his hair all mussed up and thick glasses perched on his nose. Chanyeol thinks he’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen. Or he _would_ be, if he wasn’t exuding sex appeal.

“Oh, you,” Jinho says, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and giving Chanyeol a tiny awkward wave. “Hi.”

Chanyeol swallows. “I just—I—” He swallows, but he can’t get the words out. “You said you had something to give me? But you never gave it to me.”

“Oh!” Jinho repeats. “Yeah. Sorry about that. Give me a minute and I’ll find it for you.”

“Can I…can I come in?” Chanyeol asks, voice dropping quieter as he wonders if this is appropriate.

Jinho pauses for a moment, and then opens the door. “Yeah,” he says. “We should probably talk, right?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol echoes, stepping in and toeing off his shoes in the doorway, next to Jinho’s Jordans.

“It’s a CD, by the way,” Jinho says, trying for overly casual and not quite succeeding. Instead, it just comes across a little bit awkwardly. “The thing they wanted me to give you. It’s in my room.”

“That’s okay,” Chanyeol says. He’s pretty sure they’re both aware, by now, that it was just a ruse to get them together. Suddenly Taekwoon’s excitement makes sense.

They skirt around the topic for a while, talking about their weeks, what they want to do their next holidays, their friends (Jinho has a very interesting impression of Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s relationship, in that he thinks there is far more sex going on than Chanyeol had ever considered), more alpha-omega differences. No matter how hard they try not to talk about _them_ , they always end up talking about something related to mate bonds; Chanyeol’s mothers, Jinho’s parents (like Chanyeol, his parents are an alpha and a beta), whether two alphas can bond together, or whether Hakyeon and Taekwoon are just choosing to stay together out of some other reason to a mate bond. Jinho even brings up his curiosity about their relationship with Chanyeol, even though he clearly does his best to _not_ say that he is aware that they have sex.

It doesn’t entirely work.

“It’s good to have help,” Chanyeol says breezily. “It gets hard to deal with otherwise.”

Jinho just looks at him.

“What?” Chanyeol asks, after a few moments of awkward silence.

“I was trying not to say that,” Jinho says. “Because now I’m _thinking_ about it.” He makes a face.

“Oh...” Chanyeol says.

This feels even more awkward than the last silence, the two of them trying not to look at each other.

“I mean...” Jinho begins, and then trails off.

“Yes?” Chanyeol prompts.

“We’re—you know. You’re my—you’re my...”

It seems like touching on Chanyeol’s _having sex_ has led them to a natural concluding topic, finally unable to avoid it. Chanyeol sighs. He guesses it’s time.

“We’re mates. I’m your omega. You’re my alpha,” he says, speaking it aloud, _properly_. “That’s why we’re like this? That’s why you smell so _good_?” He needs to clarify it, even though he already knows. He needs Jinho to _say_ it.

“Yes,” Jinho affirms. “We’re mates.” He shuts his eyes, clearly steeling himself for a moment. Chanyeol bites his lip, as he waits. He feels _nervous_.

“I never…I want to be honest with you. I never expected anything like this could happen,” Jinho says. “For a long time I thought that I wasn’t even going to have a mate, because I never saw any of the signs. I never had any dreams about anyone, and I know that’s the sign that your mate is nearby.”

“My dreams changed,” Chanyeol offers. “They used to be of someone tall, big. They changed after…” He leaves the sentence hanging, just giving Jinho a small smile.

Jinho smiles back at him, although it’s equally unsure. “I just assumed I didn’t have a mate. It happens, after all. But then, one day, I smelt you on Taekwoon-hyung.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen in surprise.

“I didn’t know it was you at the time,” Jinho says. “All I knew was that they had an omega friend, someone younger. I didn’t even understand what I was smelling. I just knew that I had to meet their omega, to see if they were the person who smelt so wonderful. And that was you.”

“What do I smell of?” Chanyeol asks, leaning forwards in his chair. “You smell of happiness, cinnamon and orange chocolate.”

Jinho smiles. “Of roses, sweat, guitar wax and love,” he replies. “And a million other things I can’t pinpoint. I know you play basketball, though I can’t explain how I know.”

“You can smell that?” Chanyeol had no idea that the nose is that impressive. He takes another sniff and is amazed to realise that he knows Jinho has an impressive vocal range. He already knew that Jinho sings, but this is an extension he hadn’t been expecting. “Oh, wow,” he says.

“That’s the bond between us,” Jinho says. “It means that I can know things about you without even needing to talk to you. It’ll make the first meeting smoother for mates who have never met before. Give them something to talk about.”

“Like a real first date,” Chanyeol says softly, “only where I tell you about you and you tell me about _me_.”

“Yeah, like that,” Jinho says. “Only we’re better off. We already know each other.”

“Though not in the way the bond wants us to,” Chanyeol says, and then wonders if that was the wrong thing to say. They are, still, essentially strangers. Strangers with a mate bond that means they know a lot about each other, but still _strangers_.

Jinho smiles sheepishly. “Being around you sends me into rut,” he admits. “I’m glad that Hakyeon kept kicking me out, or I would have been all over you—and that’s not right. It wouldn’t have been right for either of us.”

Chanyeol nods, understanding what he means. He takes a quick peek at Jinho’s lap, suddenly hyper aware of the pillow that’s pressed on his lap. Neither of them would have been capable of stopping it, even if neither of them had wanted it. Alphas in rut are dangerous things, especially around omegas in heat.

“Your scent is what keeps sending me into heat,” Chanyeol says. “I expect it to hit today, just warning you.”

Jinho swallows. “Would you like me to help you?”

Chanyeol hadn’t been expecting the offer so quickly; he’d been about to suggest they postpone their talk for later—or that they swap numbers. But it’s not like he’s never had sex before, and it’s not like it would be unwelcome or unwanted. And they’re _mates_. Maybe it’d be better to share this experience sooner rather than later.

“ _Would_ you help me?” he asks. “So soon?”

Jinho’s only answer is a jerky nod of his head.

“Then yes,” Chanyeol says. “Yes, I would like you to help me.”

And, of course, Chanyeol’s heat starts not long after this.

Jinho smells it before Chanyeol notices it, which Chanyeol could have predicted. “You smell so good,” Jinho almost whines, after a few moments of them just sitting there, Chanyeol beginning to soak through his clothes.

“I’m dirtying your couch,” Chanyeol says, regretfully. “Can we go somewhere else?”

Jinho helps him through to his bedroom, although it’s difficult, as the moment they touch is like fire against Chanyeol’s skin.

Chanyeol couldn’t explain what the room looks like, because all he sees is the double bed. He beelines straight for it, shucking his clothes quickly as he gets there. The heat is unbearable, and his skin is flushed with the warmth. He’s beginning to sweat along with the slickness running down his legs. He needs relief.

Next to him, Jinho is losing clothing for a very different reason. Chanyeol has always heard that clothing chafes when one is in rut.

They end up on the bed together, both of them completely naked. Chanyeol takes a moment to run his eyes down Jinho’s body. He’s solid and stocky. He’s muscled, with strong arms and a firm chest. And he’s a decent size where he’s curling up towards his belly. Big enough to fill Chanyeol, and small enough to fill his mouth comfortably.

“What would you like?” Jinho asks. He pauses. “I’ve never been with an omega before.”

“Just fuck me,” Chanyeol pants, his hand moving down to wrap around his cock. “We can…do other things…later.”

“Okay,” Jinho says. “How do you want to do it?”

Chanyeol is lying on his back, body not moving to obey any of his attempts to get up. He enjoys sex in any position, but Jinho is tiny and he’s slightly worried that it won’t be comfortable for either of them if he remains on his back. But he just can’t _move_. “Like this?” he asks. “So I can see your face?”

Jinho blushes brightly, visible even though he’s clearly starting to sweat from the heat in the room and the beginnings of his rut. “Okay,” he says.

Chanyeol settles, waiting as Jinho opens his bedside drawer, presumably for condoms, and then—it’s quick, his knees pushed up to his chest in a way he hadn’t been sure he could do before now, Jinho’s fingers slipping inside easily. They tease his inside walls gently, erotically, and Chanyeol comes once from the fingering alone—not helped by Jinho kissing his knees. He has never thought that knees are erogenous before, but they are.

Jinho is very talented with his fingers, and Chanyeol is very turned on. It’s a good combination.

Jinho doesn’t give him any reprieve at all before he’s pushing inside Chanyeol, thick and pulsing and _perfect_. He goes at a good speed; not too punishing, but not too slow. It’s efficient yet comfortable.

Chanyeol’s knees are beginning to cramp close to his chest, so he wraps them around Jinho’s waist, pulling him in closer to him as he wraps his arms around Jinho’s neck; like he never wants them to part. It’s probably uncomfortable for Jinho as he’s _so_ much shorter, but he doesn’t complain. Instead, Jinho presses his face against Chanyeol’s collarbone, sucking marks into the skin there. 

Chanyeol gets off twice like this, before Jinho pulls out, rolling Chanyeol onto his side and moving to lie behind him. “I want to do something else. I’ve been told this works,” he says, and then pushes back inside.

The angle is entirely different like this, Jinho’s hips moving minutely, just pressing up into Chanyeol slowly. And it _works_ even with the height difference. They fit perfectly together like this.

It’s erotic and tender and loving, even more than the missionary sex had been, and Chanyeol twists as far back as he can over his own shoulder, towards Jinho.

Jinho seems to understand what he wants, and he leans in to press his mouth against Chanyeol’s.

For a first kiss, it’s wet and toothy and the angle is awful, but Jinho’s cock is deep in Chanyeol, his hand wrapped around Chanyeol’s own cock, and Chanyeol can’t really complain.

This is where he’s meant to be.

 

Epilogue

Chanyeol and Jinho spend much of the buildup to New Year interlocked with one another, Jinho causing Chanyeol to scream more than once from the pleasure. Chanyeol has always hated having heats over holidays, but Jinho makes him appreciate them. There are so many different positions to try out, and all kinds of furniture in their new home to try out. Chanyeol never tires of Jinho’s cock pressed deep inside him, and doesn’t think that Jinho will ever tire of it either. His rut is almost as endless as Chanyeol’s heat.

New Year’s dinner is, of course, held at Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s house. It’s a tradition for Chanyeol, who will then spend the day with his mothers and his older sister, a beta. Both traditions will now be joined by Jinho, as Chanyeol’s mate.

Even though they only needed to sign the mateship marriage papers, Jinho had wanted to do the whole thing properly. Chanyeol couldn’t bear to have a wedding—who knew who would gatecrash the wedding of a male omega—but Jinho had taken him shopping for rings anyway; to signify to the world that they were taken. They had come out of it with two silver rings, each inscripted with their respective scents. Then they had signed the papers; locking each other as husbands for life. Chanyeol’s mothers had witnessed the ceremony (and unsubtly whispered in Jinho’s ear that if he hurt their son, he would pay—they needn’t have bothered, as they know full well that, as a mate, he would be unable to hurt Chanyeol), and cried over their son growing up into a young man.

Hakyeon and Taekwoon had been there too, Taekwoon uncharacteristically teary. Hakyeon had joked that he was upset about “his omega” leaving him. Chanyeol thinks that’s a bit much.

“I think that if you two were to have a wedding, it would be wonderful,” Hakyeon says. “I’d come, of course. Taekwoon would stop people gatecrashing; he’s certainly menacing enough.” As if to prove his point, Taekwoon glares at him. “It would be lovely.”

Jinho interlocks his fingers with Chanyeol’s, and looks up at him, smiling warmly. “One day, that would be really nice.”

Chanyeol feels that same warmth tingling inside his lower stomach that he feels whenever he looks at Jinho these days—fondness, affection, the beginning twangs of love. They have the whole rest of their lives to think about making a spectacle of their marriage, but right now they only need each other.

“What about you two?” Jinho asks airily. “When will we hear wedding bells for either of you?”

Chanyeol has to quell the urge to laugh at Jinho’s attempts at subtlety.

Hakyeon looks at Taekwoon, a smile on his face. “Well...” he begins. “Actually, it’s a long story, but...”

Hakyeon winks.

The End


End file.
